Agreed. No surprise about Byers, and Kirby is still a little under the radar to garner a worthwhile payday. I think Elmer returns, and knock on wood that Ipsaro, Perry and especially Skaljac envision enough minutes next year for all of them to return. High hopes!
1 Like
I was thinking the same thing considering heās from Chambersburg, PA.
Iām sad to see Brant go but Iām not surprised. I was expecting this announcement. And Iām forever appreciative of his contributions to the program.
7 Likes
Heās from Chambersburg - close to a lot of hoops programs.
Very disappointing - he could have been a member of Miami HOF and forever remembered as a key. contributor to the 31-0 team- I doubt if the delta between what Miami offered and what he may get will pay for the unhappiness he will experience 30/40 years from now with this decision. It is clear these so called ā agentsā have no long range interest of the players they represent and are only concerned with a quick payoff. BTW what are the tax c onsquences of these deals?
=>They pay taxes.
I mean, they are taxable, and if I could have made (probably) in the upper six figures for a year or more when I was 21 and was smart with the money, that wouldāve been very hard to pass up.
Even if you were dumb with the money it would have been hard to pass up. When I was a student, none of us had any money. But with quarter beers and pizza by the slice for a buck it worked out. Twenty bucks was plenty for a good night out. That must be like 100 bucks today
And even looking more long term, if Brant wants to pursue a career in professional basketball, barring something crazy heās probably going to go to Europe, and the top European leagues where guys make a very nice living is far from guaranteed for him. If he hypothetically makes some where between 1 and 1.5 million over the next two years, he can help subsidize a few years playing lower leagues if necessary to see how far he can go, and the worst thing that happens is that he comes back to real world (hopefully with a degree) and perhaps some money left over if he was smart with it to jump start the rest of his life.
While there certainly are some unscrupulous agents out there looking to take advantage of kids, getting someone like Brant a life changing payday is not an example of that I donāt think.
1 Like
You are so right, Yellow! In the late 70ās when I was at Miami $2 bucks would buy an SDS pizza, 
, which you would split w a buddy because who could afford 2 bucks!
When I graduated from Miami I almost immediately headed out to Pasadena, CA to start my first job (with a company I ended up spending my whole career). I literally had no more than $200 to my name.
1 Like
The demographics have changed as has the dollar eroded.
=>Those SDS delivery times had to be a bitch with the time it took the driver operating a horse and buggy.
2 Likes
I get all of the above- if the delta between what Miami has offered and some other gig is significant so be it BUT if the difference lets say is $100k Byers is going to pay approximately $ 40 k in local , state and federal taxes ( absent setting up a 401(k) or deferring the money over a period of years ) leaving approx $60 k net. Is that worth it to leave Miami? I do not know what the break point is but if it is not great why leave Miami? Steele brought Byers in as an early enrollee 2 plus years ago and provided great coaching and development for his game. If Byers is not going to get a great deal more money somewhere else then he is a Morgan Stafford type in my book. Perhaps the saying ā money cannot buy happiness ā will be applicable later in Byers life.
One SDS pizza was our unit of value in lieu of the dollar, e.g., āThat costs more than four pizzas!ā
1 Like
This is the world we now live in, and criticizing these guysā loyalty or judgment for making decisions within the framework theyāve been given says more about us than them. Somewhere out there is a message board where people are still bitching about Peter Suder or Almar Atlason leaving their prior schools to come to Miami.
Coach Steele is doing a great job of making Miami a good place to come play basketball and stay. And the overall quality of the university experience remains a calling card for at least some good players. I think our coaching staffs know how to play that factor to our advantage.
5 Likes
And the value of a Miami degreeā¦.guess former Miami athletes pre NIL can just look at their diploma as a collectible that no longer carries the value it had. Incredibly sad. Makes a mockery of the students attending Miami who are the best in their major. I think we are watching the implosion of American college athletics. Just make is semi-pro club like everywhere else and be done with it.
You may have to show your work on this one. What do the decisions of athletes who leave to maximize their NIL earnings have to do with, say, the next Truman Scholar in the pipeline at the Honors College?
1 Like
I think the second sentence is why the first sentence is wrong. In the current environment, athletics has basically nothing to do with the school as a school. If an athlete transfers out for a bigger payout at some other school, well, thatās just how college athletics works now. It doesnāt insult excellent students who arenāt athletes at all. The two groups are at college for completely different reasons.
1 Like
I look at it like this ā if the student is a musician who has a chance to join a great band with a good conductor, and make some money in the process, would alums be mad at him/her? Or if the student was an actor who could perform at a school closer to Broadway, and potentially get some big parts, would anyone fault them?
The risk is that the student could find themselves as 3rd or 4th chair, or an understudy, so it doesnāt always work out.
1 Like
I believe Luke Skaljacās parents are a Miami Merger. I would hope that they have an interest in seeing their son be successful in his academic work as well as on the hardwood and maybe push him into staying on at their alma mater. At least I hope so.
2 Likes